The Dream

A girl wakes to find a creature in her room. It tells her that she is needed to save the universe from being thrown into chaos! Can she do it?

It was nine when I went to bed that night, and for a teenager that would probably be considered early, so, needless to say, I was pooped; tired beyond all reasoning. I had flopped down, pulling the covers up to my chin, completely enfolding my sleep-cami-and-shorts-wearing body. I had been asleep for awhile when I had the weirdest dream: I dreamed that I had been woke up by this flickering light, something shaking my shoulder, and this extremely annoying voice that was whining in my ear about how "something was messed up" and that "I needed to wake up... NOW!" My eyes fluttered open, and upon focusing, a small figure came in to view. It was floating mid-air and chattering to itself incessantly, pulling at the little flight-suit thing that it wore and wringing its little bluish hands. As I sat up, it took notice of me.

"Ahh, finally! You're up!" It fluttered closer to me via tiny, sparkling, blurred wings and hovered not a foot above my lap. "Now," he -I guessed- continued, "We don't have much time, so I'm not going to explain everything, but I need your help!"

"What the heck?" I cocked an eyebrow. "What in the world are you?"

"Why do you need to know?" He countered, obviously flustered. "I said that we don't have the time! Don't you get it?"

He babbled on.

"Okay! Okay!" I said, trying to get him to shut up. "I just wanted to know who you are!"

He froze, and offered a hand, calmly, as if he had been this way the whole time. "My name is Bert, Bert Batoo, at your service ma'am..."

"Good... So you're willing to help?" He smiled, showing perfectly white teeth, a sharp contrast to his bluish skin.

"...Uh... What with?"

"Why, the saving of the universe of course!"

"Uh, Sure...!" I answered with a half smile, thinking, hey, I've never had a dream of saving the universe. Why not?

Bert sighed, his little shoulders sinking a half-inch. "Good. Alright then, there's no time to lose; lets go!" He grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me from my bed.

"Hey, hey! What do we have to do?" I screeched at him.

He sighed, and I could have sworn that he mumbled something under his breath about "humans." "Look, the universe is about to be flung into chaos, and if we don't complete the tasks before midnight, it'll all be mixed up and goofy and there'll be nothing that we can do about it!" His voice rose to a crescendo at this point.

"What tasks?" I said, thinking that Bert was "a little off his rocker" if you know what I mean.

"There are two random tasks across this country that must be completed before midnight. One on the east coast, one on the west, and then we have to get back to the exact center point between them -here, in Missouri I think. I'm not completely sure, but I'll be getting a text message from the office about the info for them as we go..." He pulled about a mini cell phone as if to prove his point.

"Oookaay," I said slowly, trying to humor him, "then lets go..."

"Alrighty now, if you'll just take this here thingy," Bert handed me a small metal trinket on a chain and motioned for me to put it on around my neck, "it'll allow for side-along flying -just as long as you hold on to this tether attached to my harness-"

"Wait!" I broke in standing up to face him, "I can't go like this!" I motioned to my scant apparel.

"And why not?" He put a hand on his hip and glared at me.

"I-I can't be seen dressed like this! I look like a skank!"

Bert chuckled. "Gees..."

"Can I just throw some jeans on first?" I started rummaging through the mixed piles of clean and dirty clothes situated around my room.

He looked at the digital clock next to my bed. "No! It's ten forty-five! We don't have much time!"

"But-"

"Just hold on- I can fix ya up there, if you have to have different clothes!" He pulled out this little wand thingy and waved it at me. Suddenly, I was clothed in a shimmering outfit of white (similar to Bert's clothing, only what I wore was a more feminine version), my hair was pulled up in a bun, and on my feet were a pair of crystal glass slippers. I was looking not unlike Cinderella at this moment. Sweet dream! I thought.

He zoomed over and clipped a length of rope onto my harness, connecting me to him. We moved to the open window, and suddenly with a quick motion, we were outside my house, over twenty feet off the ground. I screamed both in fear and in excitement as we swiftly gained height and soared right over my neighbors' house. I was surprised that Bert's little wings could carry us like this, but I flew just as he did, not hanging below, but at the same level as he.

"Where do we have to go first?" I screamed over the rush of air. We were now about 300 feet over the ground.

He looked at me over his shoulder. "I'm getting a text now...! It looks like we're going to have to be teleported there by the network; hold on!"

"To what?" I yelled back and then suddenly we were zooming through this miniscule tunnel of colors and air that swooshed past like one of those port keys in Harry Potter. I screamed as Bert just laughed. (It was a weird dream, one that felt eerily real. You know what I mean? It was one of those where you were thinking the whole time: Man, what did I eat before bed?) Then, with a big boom, not unlike a sonic, were emerged and were flying as if we had been hovering over this green lawn for ages.

"Where are we?" I yelled at Bert.

"Um.... I don't know... I think that this is your peoples' capital? Right?"

I then looked down and realized that we were flying directly over the White House's front lawn!

"What are we doing here, Bert?" I screamed.

"Completing the first task!" He huffed in frustration.

"Well, duh!" I said. "But-"

"Just shut up and c'mon! It'll all be over before ya know it!"

I just shut up and hoped that he was right. Even if it were just a dream, I didn't want to get caught within restricted airspace, in airplane or not. That would be all that I needed; a mark on my record for an attempted terrorist attack on the White House itself! Wait.... this is only a dream. Never mind. ANYWAY! Bert led me down closer and closer to the building and before long we were directly in front of a window, where, inside, I could see a sleeping girl. Bert edged the window open as I balanced on the windowsill, literally hanging on for dear life. We slipped inside without incident (unless you count me bumping my head on the way in), and I stood, almost cowering in fear of the secret service bounding in at any moment, next to Bert who studied the miniature cell phone in his hand.

"Okay," He whispered, "They say that we have to give the President's daughter money."

"What?" I whispered so loudly by accident that the girl sleeping in the bed near the wall stirred and rolled over onto her side. "Like she needs any..." I spoke much lower this time as I surveyed the opulent room filled with toys and gadgets that I could only have dreamt of when I was this girl's age.

"Hey," Bert fixed me with a stern glare, "I don't make the tasks, I just follow them, 'kay?"

"Okay, fine, sorry... Alright then..." I sighed. "Sooooo.... we have to give her money?"

"Yup, that's right. You got any?"

"Nooo; it's not like I go to bed with change in my pocket in case I need to make a call. So, unless you've stashed some cash in this here suit-"

"Are you the Tooth Fairy?" A small voice broke in. Apparently our conversation woke the girl; she was sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Uh..." I stuttered, "Yeeaahh...? Right... Bert?" I looked to him for help.

"Wow... I didn't know if you were really real! This'll show Tommy!" She dived under her pillow and procured a small bit of white and joyously handed it to me.

"Alrighty then," I said palming the tooth, "Bert, if you'd get the money that little miss... uh-"

"Tammy," She supplied.

"Yes, uh, Tammy... that Tammy gets for this little tooth here."

"Yeah... uh," Bert muttered as he frantically rummaged through the pockets of his tiny flight suit. "I don't, I don't have any change on me..."

I sighed exaggeratedly, "You have a wand, dummy! Can you not use that?"

"Well, uh, I guess so-" then he added under his breath "But it'll be counterfeit. She won't be able to spend it."

"That's okay; do you really think that she gives tender in change?"

Bert chuckled and with a swish of his wand, a small half-dollar piece settled into Tammy's waiting hands.

"Okay," I said to her, bending down and ruffling her hair familiarly, "Now, you be a good girl, but don't tell anybody that you saw us here; we're not suppose to show ourselves to big girls like you..." She nodded her head and smiled at the half-dollar as we moved towards the open window.

"Oh, and, uh, don't forget to brush!" I added as we slipped away once more into the night.

The little girl still stood at her window, waving at us. I waved back until she was out of my sight. "So," I hollered up at Bert, "Another trip through the 'network' is it?"

"Yup..."

And then we were zooming through again. This time, it wasn't as gut wrenching or terrifying as the first. (It also took a bit longer.) I spread my arms out and enjoyed the ride, corkscrewing dangerously fast, and soaring through the blur feeling as if I were experiencing "light speed" like in Star Wars (minus the Millennium Falcon, of course). It was awesome; the most awesome dream that I had ever had! And then, we were back in the universe that I knew; only the place we were hovering over now was somewhere that I didn't know. The sun was just setting here, and the city lights were already bright.

"What time is it now, Bert?" I asked, taking in this new place with great fascination.

He looked at his watch; "Uh... Central Standard Time: eleven thirty on the nose! We'd better get goin'!"

I nodded to myself then queried: "Hey, where are we?"

"Beverly Hills, California, I believe!"

"Cool. Now what?"

"I'm getting a text right now," He observed the little phone in his hand. "Umm. Somethin' to do with Paris Hilton..." (Only he pronounced it: "Payriz Hiltone.)

I smiled at his mispronunciation.

Soon we were hovering above this beautiful condo that I knew was none other than Ms. Hilton's. It had a large built-in pool in the backyard (like every other house surrounding it), and I knew that if I toured the whole house, I'd probably find a hot tub, and spa in the bathroom. I hated rich people right now. Especially people like this who did ABSOLUTELY NO REAL WORK to get their money. They were just the ones with the rich daddies. Icky.

Anyway, we soared lower, trying our best to stay concealed. I bet that the National Inquirer would have a heyday if we were spotted.

A jolt went through my body as we touched down on the green sod lawn. My knees buckled and then I nearly fell.

Bert laughed at me. "Newbie..."

I shook myself off and pretended that I meant to do it. Yes, of course, why couldn't someone fall flat on their face if they want to? I mean, everyone does it! Why not try to do it on purpose? Okay, I know that my "act" was less than convincing, but hey, I still have my pride. Right?

I trudged across the lawn behind Bert to the French-doors in the back. He flung them open with a wave of his wand and we were inside, without even the tiniest security system difficulties. Up the grand staircases into Ms. Hilton's room we went. She was asleep (More like passed out. She wouldn't have been asleep right now if it had been otherwise. Whatever; this wouldn't make perfect sense anyway, it's a dream, remember.), on her bed, all tangled up in a sheet with her day clothes still on.

She was snoring loudly.

"What do we have to do?" I half whispered and mimed to Bert. He looked again at his little cell, and he made a chopping scissors-like motion with the index and middle fingers of his free hand.

I cocked my head at him. "What?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes at me and reached into a rather large cargo pocket on his side and pulled out a pair of scissors. He mimed cutting my hair with them, and then pointed at Paris (Who was still snoring rather loudly).

I pointed at Paris (she was now muttering something I couldn't make out.), making sure that I understood Bert properly. You want me to cut her hair? I gestured. Bert nodded. I shrugged. Okay, I thought, taking the scissors from him, here goes nothin'! I edged closer to the bed and the sleeping "Heiress" in it, wondering why Bert would have a pair of scissors on his person. I was tenderly fingered a lock of her hair, getting ready to chop the bleached-blonde tress when Paris snorted and lifted her head. She stared at me with blurry eyes and mumbled something. I looked to Bert for guidance, but he just shrugged at me. I snipped the bit of hair off quickly as Paris's eyes cleared and she mumbled at me again, this time I could understand her even beyond the slurring:

"I like your outfit... it's... hot..." And then her head dropped and she started snoring again.

I almost laughed out loud.

"Okay, we're done. Come on," I said to Bert started walking out of the room. "Let's go home."

I woke up the next morning, slapped the switch the alarm on my digital clock off, and ventured downstairs, thinking about the dream I had the night before. Normally I never remember the dreams that I have. But this one just stuck with me and I couldn't get it out of my head even while I ate breakfast. After I had eaten and gotten dressed for school, I turned on the TV to see what the weather was going to be like while I decided whether or not to bring a jacket to school with me. I flipped the channel to Fox 2 News and waited for the Meteorologist's "made up" forecast. Right now there was some report about how the president had signed a bill proclaiming free dental care for all Americans this morning.

Funny, I thought, thinking about the part of my dream concerning Mr. President's daughter.

I flipped the channel again to some Celebrity Gossip show. There was some typical stuff about some star "assaulting" the paparazzi, So-and-so broke up with so-and-so again, blah, blah, blah, some other meaningless stuff, and then a segment about Paris Hilton's new style. A picture flashed up on the screen of her in an all white outfit with a bizarre hairdo. Her blonde locks were choppy and messy like she had taken some scissors to her own head.

My jaw actually fell, and I felt a strange sense of Déjà vu come over me.

Before I had much more time to ponder this, my mom yelled at me from upstairs about how I was going to miss the bus. So, I ran up the stairs taking 2 at a time and zoomed into my room to grab my shoes and backpack. I stumbled over my dirty clothes and fell... on something hard. I wanted to cuss in three different languages, but I restrained myself as I got back to my feet. I scrabled throught the various detritus for my stuff and whatever it was that I fell on. After a miute I found my Converse, and bag, and... This time, my jaw hit the floor.

Crystal glass slippers!

Oh, my gosh! How did these get here? HOW?

I sat for a moment agape at what had just happened.

It was only a dream...Or...maybe it WASN'T!

Suddenly, it all came to me. Maybe that was why it all seemed so real. Maybe that was why I felt so tired this morning. Maybe-

This time from downstairs, Mom yelled again.

"I'M COMING!" I replied.

I jumped up and hid the slippers in my closet, spun around to grab my bag when- a blue blur outside my window caught my eye.

Bert?

Again Mom yelled, her "last warning" and I gave up and ran down the stairs.

Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Maybe it was just a car driving past. Maybe-

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